St. Albans driver in double-fatal car accident accepts plea deal

Expected prison sentence: six to 15 years

Feb. 27, 2014

Written by

Free Press Staff Writer

Alexis Gabree of St. Albans pleaded guilty Thursday to charges she was responsible for a head-on car collision on Vermont 105 in North Troy in August 2012 that killed an elderly couple.

Gabree, 27, will be sentenced to six to 15 years in prison at a later date, lawyers for Gabree and the state said later Thursday.

Gabree, who told police after the accident that she was a recovering drug addict who had recently relapsed, entered guilty pleas to two counts of gross negligent operation of a motor vehicle, fatality resulting, during a morning hearing at Vermont Superior Court in Newport.

Gabree was driving 17 mph over the speed limit when the car strayed across the road and struck a vehicle operated by Edmund Moran, 82, a police affidavit said.

Moran died at the scene, and his wife, Margaret Moran, 76, who was a passenger in the car, died later of injuries. The Jay couple had been married for more than 50 years.

Gabree, who at the time was on her way to visit a boyfriend at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport, received minor injuries and was briefly hospitalized.

Under a plea agreement worked out between lawyers for Gabree and the state, Gabree will receive the six-to-15-year sentence about four weeks from now at a hearing before Judge Howard VanBenthuysen. A misdemeanor count of violating release conditions was dismissed.

Orleans County Deputy State’s Attorney James Lillicrap outlined the details of the plea deal in email to the Burlington Free Press but was unavailable for further comment.

Dan Maguire, Gabree’s attorney, confirmed the plea deal and said it was binding on both sides. Maguire said the sentencing hearing will provide an opportunity for Gabree and Moran family members to speak about the case.

“My client is appropriately remorseful for what happened,” Maguire said. “She is taking responsibility for it in a significant way.”

According to a police affidavit, a marijuana pipe was found on the seat of Gabree's car along with a mostly empty prescription bottle for Suboxone, a medication used to treat opiate addiction.

A toxicology report later determined that Gabree had traces of 11 drugs in her system at the time, but was not impaired.

Gabree told police she smoked marijuana the night before the crash and taken a half-dose of Suboxone the morning of the accident, according to court filings.

Gabree had been free on bond pending an outcome of the case until January, when her father told officials Gabree was again abusing drugs and asked that her bond be revoked.

She was subsequently taken into custody and is now incarcerated at Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington.

Gabree was featured in a 2008 Burlington Free Press series about an epidemic of opiate abuse in St. Albans. In an interview for the series, Gabree described how she became addicted to drugs when she was 15 and how it had affected her life.